Jesus and the Critics
“Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning he, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’
‘No one, sir,’ she said.
‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’”
John 8:6b-11, NIV
I’ve always been struck by Brené Brown’s description of having the courage to step out into the arena of life and give it your best shot. When I first heard her talk about it, she highlighted the inherent risk that partners such courage: the inevitable criticism from the peanut gallery — those on the sidelines who judge and seek to tear down.
Yet, criticism can come from within us as well. In Brennan Manning’s book “Abba’s Child,” he talks about the inner Pharisee, the inner part of us that tells us we’re not enough, a voice that cries “why did you do it that way?” or “you should have known better.” We don’t always need an external critic — we can confirm our own worst fears about ourselves all on our own.
Whether it’s from others or from the messages we tell ourselves, criticism can hold us hostage like no other.
In John 8, Jesus shows Himself the ultimate antidote to such hostage situations. Jesus picks away at the critical voices one at a time. He thins the crowd of negativity until it’s just Him and the woman. Who knows what Jesus wrote in the sand to convict the religious leaders of their hypocrisy and hatefulness. Whatever it was, it stopped them in their tracks.
The same is true for the inner criticism we receive. Jesus can challenge those voices as well and heal the internal conflicts we face. He can thin the crowd of our negativity and self-hatred until all that’s left is us as we really are and Jesus. And like the woman caught in adultery, we might expect condemnation, but what we can receive is love, a new start, freedom, forgiveness and new life.
